The obverse design for the
"Return to Monticello" nickel depicts a
portrait of Thomas Jefferson completed during the year
in which he was elected as our Nation's third President.
The reverse features the classic, familiar rendition of
Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home,
originally executed by artist Felix Schlag and first
chosen to adorn the coin's reverse in 1938.
The obverse design was
created by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program
Master Designer Jamie Franki of Concord, North Carolina,
using as his inspiration the first Rembrandt Peale life
study of Jefferson, done in 1800. The reverse design is
crisper and more detailed than Americans have seen it in
recent years, having been carefully restored by the
United States Mint, using Schlag's original work.
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